The Pakistani government on Friday lifted its travel ban on Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida, a week after he reported on an “extraordinary verbal confrontation” between the country’s civilian government and military. The country’s Interior Ministry has issued a notification ordering Almeida’s name to be removed from the Exit Control List.
On Thursday, Islamabad said Almeida’s presence in Pakistan was necessary for an investigation into the Dawn report. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that two or three others were also banned from travelling out of the country as they were part of the inquiry.
The ban had sparked a global outcry, with organisations including the Committee for the Protection of Journalists urging Pakistan to lift the restriction. Almeida had said that he feared even “uglier action” against him because of the report.
The newspaper had stood by its reporter’s story even after Islamabad denied it three times. The article in question described an “extraordinary verbal confrontation” between the civilian government and the director general of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, Rizwan Akhtar, during a recent meeting. The civilian government had warned the military that Pakistan risks being isolated internationally unless it cracks down on militancy.
The report was published on September 18, a little under three weeks after the militant attack on the Indian Army camp in Kashmir’s Uri sector, which killed 19 soldiers. On September 29, the Army conducted surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan, which the neighbouring country denied as cross-border firing.
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